Shrek 2 - a review

When I saw the original Shrek, I immediately thought of a favorite childhood picture book of mine, The Paper Bag Princess. Both rely strongly on the theme that good looks don't get you everything you want, and that happily ever after isn't necessarily all you thought it would be. Apart from the eye candy of the animation of Shrek, this important message (so often undermined by movies of the Disney "Princess" ilk) was my favorite part.

I am happy to report that Shrek 2 remains true to its calling and reiterates that theme with mucho gusto. However, I didn't find the second as enchanting as the first. While still entertaining, Shrek 2 lacked some of the magic of the first; the newness was gone, as if I were viewing the same enjoyable film a second time.

This is not to say that Shrek 2 didn't have its good points: I really enjoyed a lot of the "in" jokes about Hollywood, and references to other films like Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, and the fairy god mother was "absolutely fabulous." I wasn't as enchanted with Antonio Banderas' Puss as many other people seem to have been. I kept waiting for the rest of his plot line; it seemed to me that the paid assassin changed his mind a little too quickly, and I kept hoping for a plot twist that would set him against Shrek at a pivotal moment... but it never came.

While the message of being true to yourself and looking for inner beauty was still there, I almost felt like it was played out. Other important messages were touched on, and then brushed aside, like the King's racism towards Shrek. It's not that I want to turn this touching children's tale into a politically charged public service announcement, I just felt the film was lacking some of the original's positive message and drive.

I enjoyed Shrek 2, but I feel like the film was made just for the sake of capitolizing off the first film's success. It lacks the inspiration and brilliance that made the first film such a departure from the mainstream. And while a good joke re-told is often just as entertaining as the original, it always seems to lose something in the translation.